Floating sinker



May 15, 1928. 1,670,184

J. w. BOND FLOATING SINKER 7' 'F-iled June 6, 192'? 2 Sheets-Sheet l May15, 1928. j 1,670,184

J. W. BOND FLOATING S INKER Filed June 6, 1927 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 PatentedMay 15, 1928.

UNITED srAr-Es;

' F I C JOHN WILLIAM noun. or vxoronia. Bnrri'sn COL MBIA, enimnn.

nLoA'rIne sINKER. I

Application filed June. 6,

This invention relates to improvements in floating sinkers and theobjects of.v the in vention are to provide a simply and durablyconstructed sinker adapted for use in troll- A further object is toprovide an improved floating sinker adapted tonormally travel below thesurface of the water and on being tensioned, through the hooking ofa:fish,to float to theto 1 With the foregoing and other objects in view,the invention contemplates employing the principle of equipoise tooperate the plane and comprises a plane memberprol5 vided with a"swing-ingly and adjustably mounted tubular shank member adapted at 1 'apredetermined point in its travel, under the influence of tension on abart"line, to collapse, transferring the tension direct -to-the planemember and causing it tojrise autotubular shank. I

5" Figure 6 1s a Figure 5 is a sectlonal elevation of the trip andsupportingbracketyf I detail of the troll line en- 7 gaging member onthe shank member.

Figure 7 is a fragmentary planview of shank registering member;-

Referring more particularly to the draw-' ings, in which a preferredexample of the *invention is illustrated and in which the improvedsinker "comprises a plane 10 formed of any suitable material, and hereshown'as of wood, preferably bevelled to- 'wards'the head, sidesan-dfoot to provide the greatest strength at'the point of great-' "eststrain, the head 11 and the foot 12 being reinforced with metal stripsas at 13 to give strength and protection to the margin.

0 3 On'the member 10 is rigidly mounted a channel plate 14, j the sides15 and 16 of which are provided with a plurality of spaced orifices 17registering with 'one'an other, as hereinafter more fully referred to.

'55 "These plate orifices17 are adaptedto support apin18 errtendin-gtherethrough and the'plane 10 to be anchored at 27 to the protrudingtherebeyond and formed with an offset '19 whereby it is spring held inposition. PO11 this pin. is mounted'a sleeve 20 formed with'a collar 21inwh-ich is rigidly mounted the hollow shank member "22,therebyensuring, according to the placing "of the pin 18 in the orifices17, the plane working at its maximum angle, this being accomplishedby'placing the'pin in the top apertures, it naturally following that asit 13' changed to the other apertures 17 in rotation downward the anglewill reduced successively, thereby permitting trolling to be carried onat varying depths down to the maxlmum. v

The main trolling line from a boat or the like is attached to a loopedline 23 passing.

back through the opening 24 in the point of the tubular shank 22and'down and out through the aperture 25 therein, from whence it-extendsthrough the clip :26 along rudder 28 in any well known manner.

A'knot 29 is preferably made on theline 23 within thetubular shank toprevent it from #being tensioned beyond that P011111,

w'henthe device isi-n use. 7

The rudder 28 is of special simplified construction and is ,adapted'inthe event ofthe trolling line parting to cause the sinker to be easilyidentiiied floating on the water, as

the head oft-he sinker will stand well above the water; j r

The tail line 30, which carries the bait, (see Figure 1'), is anchoredor otherwlse secured as at'31 to a bolt or adjusting screw Y 32' in asleeve 33 mounted on the tubular shank member 22. From thence it passesaround a pulley 34 mounted in a bracket 35 on the member 10 and thenceback over a pulley 36 carried by the collarmember'33 on the shank 22 andthen under the'pulley 37 mounted in the bracket member 35, thence upthrough the eye member 38 in the channel plate 14 designed to act as aguide at that point, after which the line will maintain itscorrectjdirection when trolling spoon and additional line isattachedt'othe free end of the line 30.

. For automatically putting the sinker out of opera-tiveactioml providean automatic trip release. This comprises a top section 39 and a lowersection 40 (see Figure 3)", designed to fit one within the-other. Withinthe lower; section and -protruding therebeyond is a slidabl-y mountedpineLprovided at its iii protruding end with a screw head 42- an dtapered to a point at its inner end 43 to engage with a resilient catchmember 44 carried by the top section provided with a dog which isnormally in engagementwith a slot 45 in the lower section of the'shankmember,

so that when the tubular shank is forced inwardly beyond a certain pointthe protruding head 42 of the pin41 will come in contact withthebottomof the channel plate 14 (see Figure causing the pin 41 to moveinwardly and lift the resilient member 44 out of engagement with theslot 45,ra1s1ng this sulficientlyto, allow the top portion or section39of the tubular shank to disconnect,

immediately transferring the pull of the trolling line 23 direct to itspoint of anchore P age at the tail of the plane, thus putting the sinkerout of action, when it will at once commence to rise to the surface.This release mechanism just described is causedto operatewhen the-footof the plane, strikes an obstruction under water, such as by contactingwith the ocean bottom or projecting rocks or. the like. 4

In the event of it being desirable to shorten the member 41, one or morewashers sinker out of action.

By disconnecting the trolling line 23" from i the rudder and passing itsend through the opening 46 and securing itthere on the reverse side, theslnker may be operated in this way if circumstances require.

A collar 47 is provided on thelower sec- 1 tion of the shank member tohold the pin 41 while the resilient. member 44 is secured to the member22 bya pin or the like 48, while the Hscrew'49 mounted on the collar 48is adapted to tension the resilient member 44. In Figure 7, a smallprojection 50 on -the detachable upper section 39 of the tubularshank isprovided and adaptedto fit into a slot 51 in the lower section to ensurebringing the resilient member 44 correctly into position. I

From the foregoing the operation of my device, which has been dlsclosedconcurrent- 1' 1y with the description, will be apparent, and is asfollows: The trolling line is attached to the loopedline 23 and thespoon bait or the like connected to the bait line 30,

the hollow shank member being duly ad justed in the channel plate 14 toensure the plane 10 working at its most efiicient angle.

The sinker will then be in set position, asv

disclosed in Figure 2. On a fish being struckor an object in the bottom,tension 2 will be immediately exerted on the bait line,

drawing the member 22 to a position ap-- proximately parallel with theplate, thus permitting the float to immediately ascend to the surface.

Should the fish in its initial struggle break away, the sinker willagain go into action, this being effected by the equipoise principle. V

- As manychanges could be made in the above construction, and manyapparently widely difierent embodiments of my invention, within thescope of the "claims, constructed 'without departing from the spirit orscope thereof, it is intended that all matter containedin theaccompanying specifica tion and drawings shall be interpreted asillustrative and not in a limiting sense, I What I claim'as my inventionis:-

1. A floating sinker comprising a plane, a

channel plate provided with aseries of apertures, rigidly mounted on theplane, a tubular shank pivotally mounted in the channel member andformed in two sections adapted to vlit into one another, aresilientcatch member in one of the sections, .and

catch to lock the sections.

means associated with rthe' otherjsection adapted to automaticallyengage with said.

2. A floatingsinker compisin ga plane, a

supporting plate rigidly. mounted on the.

plane, a tubular shank V pivotally connected to the plate and formed intwo sections adapted to engage with one another, a resilient catch inoneof the sections, andmeans associated withthe; other section adapted.to automatically 'engage'with said catch, a I

protruding pin slidable in the shank, adapted, on the shank swinging toa,predetermined angle, to automatically engage-with the plate to operatethe catch, and. release one of the shank sections,

3. In a device of the character'described,

, the combination with a plane provided with a rudder on one side and anapertured channel plate on the other side, a pin adjustable in the saidplate, a sleeve rotatably mount- L ed on the, pin, [a shank formed intwo 'sec-' tions and rigidly mounted on said s1eeve, a protruding pin inone of the shank sections, adapted, on contact, tomove inwardly, aresilient spring catch associated with bothsections and adapted normallyto'retain the sections together and on beingengaged by said pin topermit the sectionsv to separate.

4. In a device'of thecharacter described, f

the combination with, a plane, of ashank formed intwo-sections andswingingly and adjustably mounted on the plane, a protruding pinslidable in the. shank, adapted, on

the shank beingswung'beyond a predetere,

minedpoint, to engage with the plane to move; inwardly, a resilientcatch in. the shank, adapted normallytoretain bothsections inengagementand on; being engaged by the pin to automatically release the catchandpermitthe sections tovseparate.

5. A floating sinker comprising a plane, a

shank adapted to engage with said line whereby, on the line beingtensioned, the

shank assumes a substantially horizontal position in alignment with theplane, a trolling line anchored to the rudder, and means in the planepermitting the travel of the line therethrough, and a knot on the linewithin the shank, adapted to limit the trave of the line through theshank. 1

7. A floating sinker comprising a plane, a rudder for the plane, aswingingly mounted shank member formed in two sections on the oppositeside of the plane to the rudder, a bait-carrying line anchored to theplane, and rollers associated with the plane and the shank adapted toengage with said line whereby, on the line being tensioned, the

shank assumes a substantially horizontal po' sition in alignment withthe plane, a troll ing line anchored to the rudder, and means in theplane permitting thetravel of the line therethrough, and a knot on theline within the shank, adapted to limit the travel I of the line throughthe shank, a resilient 35 catch for the shank sections, and meanscarried by'the shank and automatically operable on the shank being swungbeyond the fulcrum with the plane for operating said catch to separatethe sections.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

JOHN WILLIAM .BOND.

